No Child Left Behind and Accessible Math: Where
Are We Now?

Steve Noble, Director of Accessibility Policy
Design Science, Inc.

According to data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress
(NAEP), there is great disparity between the levels of math literacy for
students with disabilities when compared to the results for students without
disabilities. Since math scores for students with disabilities are also being
closely examined by the State assessments required under No Child Left Behind
(NCLB), this issue will become even more critical for all public schools in the
coming years.

There are undoubtedly many factors at work which have a connection to the
poor math performance of students with disabilities. A fundamental contributing
factor is that virtually all mainstream math instructional content and math
assessments are not designed to be used with the assistive technology products
that many students with disabilities use, and are thus not accessible. This is
especially true of classroom textbooks and assessments, which are typically used
to determine the instructional math program for students in most school
settings. Math textbooks and assessments will provide much greater accessibility
for students with print disabilities when they are made available in accessible
digital formats. Formats that include math content as opposed to images allow
assistive technology like screen readers to read math equations out loud. In
addition, they provide means for students to navigate aurally through complex
math formulas, output the math to refreshable Braille displays, and highlight
expressions as they are read.

Under NCLB requirements, States are to provide statewide reading and math
assessments to all students at designated grade levels. States have had some
flexibility in determining when and how to implement these requirements, and
have primarily focused on reading assessments to date, but are now coming to
terms with the legislative mandates for math assessments as well. In an effort
to streamline the scoring and grade-feedback process, many States have turned to
online and computer-based reading assessments, and some States like Kentucky
have made significant accomplishments in making these assessments accessible to
students with disabilities who require assistive technology to read and/or
complete test components. However, the ability to provide for information
technology accessibility to mathematical information is not as well understood
within the educational community, and presents a number of challenges in
implementation.

Design Science received funding from the Southeast DBTAC to conduct a pilot
project called AMATIS, the Accessible Math Assessment Technologies in Schools
Project, which is aimed at trying to define the scope of math accessibility
issues that exist in the domains of planning, developing and delivering
accessible online or locally delivered computer-mediated math assessments. This
project is limited to the eight-state region served by the SE-DBTAC: Alabama,
Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Mississippi, and
Tennessee. This session will provide details on the state of math accessibility
in both instructional content and assessment in these and other States, giving
attendees a better understanding of the current landscape and issues involved in
making math accessible.